Generates negative / error-path test cases that mirror happy-path tests - for each happy-path test, produces companions exercising input validation rejection, missing required fields, type mismatches, authorization failures, rate-limit errors, and adversarial payloads from the malicious-payload-bank. Emits cases as parameterized tests in the project's runner format. Use when a feature has happy-path coverage but the rejection / error / unauthorized paths are untested.
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A typical test suite has a happy-path test for every endpoint: "valid input → 200 / created object / etc." What's missing is the rejection path - what happens with malformed input, missing fields, wrong type, unauthorized user, rate-limited request, adversarial payload?
This skill takes a happy-path test and emits its negative companions - one per failure mode. The result is a paired set where every "should accept X" has a sibling "should reject Y" catalog.
acceptance-criteria-extractor (in the qa-shift-left plugin)
output: every Then-clause's positive assertion gets a negative
sibling.For each happy-path test of <verb> <path> with body fields
<f1, f2, ...>, generate companions across these categories:
malicious-payload-bank. Assert reject (4xx) or escaped output - never that the payload merely "didn't crash".api-chaos-runner.Per-pattern test tables and the starter adversarial-payload catalog (with CWE / OWASP references): references/negative-path-catalog.md.
Given a happy-path test:
def test_create_order_succeeds():
response = post('/api/orders',
headers={'Authorization': f'Bearer {token}'},
json={'sku': 'SKU-1', 'qty': 2})
assert response.status_code == 201
assert response.json()['order_id']The skill emits negative companions:
import pytest
from tests.fixtures import token, expired_token, free_tier_token
from tests.payloads import XSS, SQLI
# 1. Schema violations
@pytest.mark.parametrize('body,expected_status,expected_field', [
({'qty': 2}, 400, 'sku'), # missing required
({'sku': 'SKU-1'}, 400, 'qty'), # missing required
({'sku': 'SKU-1', 'qty': 'two'}, 400, 'qty'), # wrong type
({'sku': 'SKU-1', 'qty': 0}, 400, 'qty'), # below min
({'sku': 'SKU-1', 'qty': -1}, 400, 'qty'), # negative
({'sku': 'SKU-1', 'qty': 1000000}, 400, 'qty'), # above max
({'sku': 'INVALID-SKU', 'qty': 2}, 400, 'sku'), # unknown enum
])
def test_create_order_schema_rejects(body, expected_status, expected_field):
response = post('/api/orders',
headers={'Authorization': f'Bearer {token}'},
json=body)
assert response.status_code == expected_status
assert expected_field in response.json().get('errors', {})
# 2. Auth failures
def test_create_order_no_token():
response = post('/api/orders', json={'sku': 'SKU-1', 'qty': 2})
assert response.status_code == 401
def test_create_order_expired_token():
response = post('/api/orders',
headers={'Authorization': f'Bearer {expired_token}'},
json={'sku': 'SKU-1', 'qty': 2})
assert response.status_code == 401
# 3. Authorization failures
def test_create_order_free_tier_blocked_for_premium_sku():
response = post('/api/orders',
headers={'Authorization': f'Bearer {free_tier_token}'},
json={'sku': 'PREMIUM-1', 'qty': 1})
assert response.status_code == 403
# 6. Adversarial payloads
@pytest.mark.parametrize('payload', XSS + SQLI)
def test_create_order_handles_adversarial_sku(payload):
response = post('/api/orders',
headers={'Authorization': f'Bearer {token}'},
json={'sku': payload, 'qty': 1})
# Either reject (preferred) or escape - never pass through with execution
assert response.status_code in (400, 404, 422)
assert '<script>' not in response.text## Negative tests for `<endpoint>` - `<verb> <path>`
**Happy path:** `tests/<file>::test_<happy_name>`
**Negative companions generated:** N (across 6 categories)
### Tests by category
| Category | Count | File |
|------------------------|------:|-----------------------------------------------------|
| Schema violations | 7 | `tests/<file>::test_<endpoint>_schema_rejects` |
| Auth failures | 2 | `tests/<file>::test_<endpoint>_no_token` etc. |
| Authorization failures | 1 | `tests/<file>::test_<endpoint>_unauthorized` |
| Rate/quota failures | 0 | (skipped; rate-limit not yet implemented) |
| Conflict/state errors | 1 | `tests/<file>::test_<endpoint>_duplicate` |
| Adversarial payloads | 8 | `tests/<file>::test_<endpoint>_handles_adversarial`|
### Skipped categories
- Rate/quota failures: rate limiting not yet implemented; revisit when added.
- Server errors: covered by `api-chaos-runner` in a separate suite.
### Recommended next step
1. Run the new negative tests; expect all to pass given the
documented behavior.
2. Any failure indicates a real gap - either the validator is
missing the case OR the assertion is wrong.
3. For passes: commit.| Anti-pattern | Why it fails | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Negative tests that assert vague status codes ("not 200") | The test passes if the server returns 500 (a bug); should fail. | Always assert specific status: 400 for validation, 401 for auth, 403 for authz, 429 for rate, etc. |
| Skipping the "wrong type" cases | The most common validator bug class. | Always include type-mismatch cases for every field. |
| One mega-test that covers all negatives | Failure attribution unclear; one failure cascades. | Parameterize per category; one test function per category. |
Negative-path coverage but no _synthetic data | Real-looking PII flows through; compliance issue if logs leak. | Use synthetic-pii-generator for any field that could be PII. |
Asserting 'error' in response.body | Brittle; error-message text changes; locale-specific bugs. | Assert structured field: response.json()['errors']['<field>'] or response.headers['X-Error-Code']. |
acceptance-criteria-extractor
non-functional-requirement-extractor
upstream.api-chaos-runner
or wiremock-stubs /
msw-handlers for the upstream
failure simulation.acceptance-criteria-extractor - upstream skill producing the happy-path AC.malicious-payload-bank - adversarial payload catalog (category 6).boundary-value-generator - sibling skill for boundary cases.synthetic-pii-generator - for any test data that includes PII.